Note 5 — L.

John Devoy, in the course of a speech delivered at Cheltenham Beach prior to the death of Mr. Parnell, made the following statement as regards the Cronin affair:—

“The men to whom I refer and whom I charge to be in alliance with the men who instigated the murder of Dr. Cronin, are Michael Davitt and John O’Connor, one of the members from Tipperary. (Cheers and cries of Hear, hear). I say here that there is a combination between the coterie which brought about the murder of Dr. Cronin and the Davitt clique in Ireland, to oust Mr. Parnell from the leadership and place Michael Davitt in his place. In Michael Davitt’s sworn testimony before the Parnell Commission, he said, I sought out John Devoy, because I heard he was going to make trouble in the Convention, so that I might learn his plans and frustrate them.’ I am glad of that admission from Michael Davitt himself, and for the payment of a thousand dollars given to him for one speech in Ogden’s Grove, and the full proceeds of a lecture tour given throughout the United States under the auspices of the Triangle. The Cronin murder was as much a part of the infamous work of this alliance to down Parnell, and to down every man in this country who believes in giving his movements a fair, full, and reasonable trial, as the puffs of Michael Davitt at a thousand a puff.”

In corroboration of Devoy’s statement, I find in the financial report of the Clan-na-Gael the sum of one thousand dollars charged; and while Mr. Davitt had for some years disassociated himself from the party of violence, he does not appear to have been averse to receiving a portion of their spoils. Mr. Davitt may plead, as other well-known Irish patriots have done, that he did not know the source from whence this money was derived; but no man was in a better position to have found out than he, had he so desired.